Swedish SaltX, a listed 5m EUR revenue company, has identified a growth opportunity in the 7m units/yr European domestic space heating appliance market to deploy its patent protected storage technology SaltX. Experts forecast fast traction for gas heat pumps (GHP) in this market over the next few years, mainly driven by more stringent regulation for energy efficiency. A Phase I feasibility study by Fraunhofer ISE, the highly respected GHP experts, confirmed that the SaltX’s TRL6 prototype is indeed the most energy efficient and low-cost solution among GHPs: SaltX-GHP will be the only GHP system that can compete with condensing gas boilers for some time, whilst the high cost and bulkiness of competitive GHPs restrict them to premium niche segments. The final system will increase energy efficiency compared to gas boilers by up to 40%, saving households up to 500 EUR/year in natural gas expenses. The system will be priced at a 15-20% premium to condensing gas boilers, or 750 EUR a unit, at an attractive 1.5 years pay-back. The efficiency advance is enabled by SaltX’s innovation that uses nano-coated salt + matrix as a heat storage medium – both are protected by patents. SaltX has already licensed this technology in the thermal solar and truck air-conditioning markets, booking early revenues of 5m EUR in 2016. In this project, SaltX will build and demonstrate a pilot GHP system. SaltX’s efforts to create momentum with OEMs via gas utilities, e.g Gas de France and British Gas, who are keen to promote gas driven innovation, has started to bear fruit. SaltX has now received strong interest from OEMs, such as Vaillant and NIBE, who will receive regular progress updates during Phase II. Following completion, SaltX will deliver on joint development agreements with OEMs, agreed upon during Phase II, and launch its GHP to a significant portion of the 7m unit a year European gas boiler market, aiming at revenues of 225m EUR by 2024 and total job creation of 30

Swedish award-winning cleantech company and leading supplier of sorption heat-pump components ClimateWell has recently made a technology breakthrough: A new, salt-liquid working couple that both raises the energy efficiency in gas-fired boilers and increases the temperature lift, making it possible to heat pump outside ambient air (as its renewable energy source) down to -20°C. This enables retrofitting in houses with old, high temperature radiators, while achieving a Seasonal COP (SCOP) of over 130%. The solution can easily be combined with solar thermal collectors to achieve a SCOP of up to 170%. Working already with major OEMs like GE and Alfa Laval in other applications, ClimateWell is targeting the European gas boiler OEMs such as Vaillant, BDR and Ariston to develop a Gas Heat Pump (GHP) product in which ClimateWell’s HeatBoost component is integrated. It potentially saves more than 33% of the natural gas consumption (500 EUR per year) for a typical European household using a condensing gas boiler today. The cost premium can be paid off in less than 4 years, making it an attractive investment for the end-user. While the target market for domestic space heating in Europe is huge with an installed base of 90 million boilers and over 8 million sold every year, the potential environmental impact is even bigger with a total reduction of CO2 footprint of 61.5 million tonnes/year. In this 6-month Feasibility Study, ClimateWell will verify the technical and commercial feasibility of integrating ClimateWell’s new sorption component into a gas boiler system. The goal is to establish collaboration with leading European boiler manufacturers for the continued development of a GHP product and apply for funding of a Phase 2 project. A successful outcome of the project means that once the GHP product has been commercialised in 3-5 years, ClimateWell’s potential revenue for providing some 2 million HeatBoost components per year to boiler manufacturers is 1 billion EUR.